Hippocrene Books. 300 pages. The enormous success of Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ, has reignited interest in the Assyrian language, gaining it worldwide recognition as the language spoken by Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Today, the language is very much alive, and has over four hundred thousand speakers. Also called Syriac or Aramaic, it is primarily spoken by the Assyrian peoples in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and can also be heard in Assyrian emigre communities such as those in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.